19-year-old Erik Evans will be joining Matt Cowley to share the driving duties in one of a two-car Intelligent Money British GT Championship campaign for Matt Nicoll-Jones’ Academy Motorsport.
Nicoll-Jones and Will Moore will share the team’s second Ford Mustang GT4.
Atlanta, Georgia-resident Erik Evans began his racing career in 2020 with the F4 United State Championship in which he finished 6th. Evans combined a further season in US F4 combined with selected entries in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship. The young American sampled the challenges of the British GT Championship with an outing in the Academy Motorsport Mustang GT4 in the final round at Donington where the #56 Academy Motorsport Mustang GT4 finished 4th in the GT4 Silver class driven by Evans and Will Moore.
“I am super pumped about coming to the UK and racing for Academy Motorsport with Matt Cowley, and battling against some of the best drivers in the UK in the Intelligent Money British GT Championship,” said Evans.
“As an American driver, debuting at the Donington Park race this past October was a fantastic experience,” said Evans. “Racing with the two different classes, managing traffic, driver changes, and feeling the passion and support of the UK motorsport fans was awesome. I had several boxes that I wanted to check off to make a solid run at Donington, but now I can take some of those restrictions off, and with Matt, get on with focusing on the business at hand.
“Driving the Multimatic Ford Mustang GT4 with Academy Motorsport and having the full engineering support of Multimatic on-site was incredible, especially as we look forward to this year. Matt [Nicoll-Jones] and the entire Academy Motorsport team have been awesome, and especially when navigating the logistics and communication across five time zones.”
Driving partner Matt Cowley, who finished 7th in the GT4 standings in 2022, is looking forward to his fifth season with the Worcestershire-based team.
“I’m really pleased and excited to be back in the Multimatic – Ford Performance Mustang GT4 for this year’s British GT Championship and my fifth season with Academy Motorsport,” said Cowley. “It’s great having two cars out there, have the opportunity to drive with newcomer Erik Evans, and keep the charities Caudwell Children, Nordorff Robbins and Shaw Mind Mental Health in people’s minds.”
Team owner Matt Nicoll-Jones acknowledge the work that had gone in to getting two cars to the grid for 2023.
“I’m thrilled to have two cars confirmed for this season; it’s been a long time coming and a great deal of hard work has gone into this,” said Nicoll-Jones. “It’s also great to welcome Matt Cowley back to the team once again. He has been with us since 2019 and has gone from strength to strength each year.
“Erik Evans is a superb addition to the team. He proved himself during his British GT Championship debut during the final round of last season at Donington Park, and we can’t wait to see what he does this year. Together, Matt and Erik create a strong driver pairing.
“And welcoming Will Moore back to the team for a full season is brilliant. He is very much part of the furniture here at Academy Motorsport, and after thinking he would have to retire last year, we’re pleased to see him back where he belongs. I’m also looking forward to getting back behind the wheel myself. It’s certainly going to be a very exciting year ahead.”
The 2023 Intelligent Money British GT Championship gets underway at Oulton Park on April 8 – 10 with the pre-season Media Day taking place at Donington on March 14.
